Gobbi Street to be closed near Safeway Monday

The first block of East Gobbi Street will be closed for 36 hours straight beginning Monday morning to allow for paving between South Main and South State streets, the City of Ukiah announced.

Beginning at 6 a.m. April 8, East Gobbi Street will be closed to all traffic west of Main Street and east of South State Street to allow crews to grind and pave the area. The block will be reopened at 6 p.m. Tuesday, then closed again for 12 hours beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday, April 10.

The road is scheduled to reopen for good at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

During the closure, traffic on State Street will be reduced to one lane in both directions past Gobbi Street, and no vehicles will be allowed to turn onto Gobbi Street.

The city also advises that "all driveways adjacent to the closed portion of E. Gobbi St. will be closed" during the same hours that the street is closed.

A detour for vehicles will be in place between East Gobbi, South Main and West Gobbi streets, and signs will direct people to a temporary bus stop on South Main Street, and temporary crosswalks at the intersection of State and Gobbi streets.

Last year, Argonaut Constructors added a right-turn lane from West Gobbi Street onto South State Street, and upgraded the sidewalks and the underground water, sewer and storm drain facilities.

In February, Public Works Director and City Engineer Tim Eriksen said crews had completed most of the work and were "waiting for a good time to pave. The colder it is when you pave, the worse the asphalt."

Since the work began on the intersection, complaints had been coming in to the Ukiah Police Department and other departments about the timing of the traffic signal, and Eriksen said it should improve once the intersection is paved.

"What trigger the signals are magnetic loops put into the pavement that sense vehicles," he said. "When we dig things up, we cut through those (loops) and the signals get tuned to a timer, so they don't know when a vehicle is there. But you can't put the new loops in until the asphalt is on."

Deputy Public Works Director Rick Seanor said Thursday that the contractors planned to complete the work this week, but the weather did not cooperate. He said they needed three good days to complete the project, and the weather was expected to clear Sunday night.

Seanor said because of the grinding of the road, a complete closure is needed, and city staff apologizes for the inconvenience.

The city requests that citizens avoid the area during the closures, and questions can be directed to city staff at 463-6282.